7 simple steps towards building customer loyalty with social media.

Understanding how your online or offline business can leverage the social media is important. Learn the skill in 7 simple steps.

1. Ask.

More than the phone numbers and email ids, it is important to ask your customers where do they hang out in social media. Add this field to your contact form or sign-up form. This will help you engage with your customers on the channels they prefer.

2. Think.

Think like a customer, not a brand. Once you are on the same social media channel as your customers, find out what they are talking about and engage with them. For instance, if you are closer to footy season, ask them about their favourite teams or players and where are they watching it. This goes a long way in showing them that they are talking to brands with people like them.

3. Give.

Everyone loves good deals. Wondering if this is one of the strong reason why customers follow brands online? You are right. Offer a catchy deal at the right place at the right time followed by retweets and forwards will snowball in no time, get you good PR without spending a dime.

4. Listen.

Listen to your customers. And act on it. This humanises your brand presence, instils trust in your brand and increases conversions. Use it as a tool to provide customer service and not only will you be reaching a wide network of customers but also be providing personalised responses at the same time.

5. Identify.

Identify and convert your active advocates. Don’t just track how many likes or retweets you get. Understand your followers, engage with them and create a community. Followers love to be identified with a brand. Encourage them to interact with you and with each other. This not only keeps your social presence active but also spreads your brand name around.

6. Follow.

Just the way you like being followed by your fans, so does your customer. As mentioned in point 2 above, think like a customer, not a brand. Remember social media is different from other forms of publicity as it is a two-way interaction platform and not a page for you to showcase your latest catalogue or achievement. Follow your fans and encourage them on their own milestones and big and small moments.

7. Outline a plan.

If you are a newbie, using social media marketing for good ROI will sound like rock climbing for the first time. Exciting yet overwhelming. You are excited to reach the top yet don’t know how. Outlining a marketing plan, having measurable targets, can help. Be ready for both slips and success and in the process, keep yourself open for reviews.